No Retreat Dyke March - Fireworks Graphics Collective

Primary Artist: Lisa Roth

Created: San Francisco Collective, 1996

Medium: Offset printed

Dimensions: 11″ x 17″

In 1993 a dozen women from San Francisco ACT UP, Women Against Imperialism, and Prairie Fire Organizing Committee created the world’s first Dyke March. They were joined by tens of thousands of other women in what has become an internationally-celebrated annual event. This 1996 poster promoting the San Francisco Dyke March articulated our perspective about why dykes would need our own march anyway. “No Retreat! We’ll never go back! We won’t go back in the closet. We won’t overturn affirmative action! We won’t roll over for the right-wing! We won’t give up our children. We won’t attack immigrants! No Retreat!!! We march for freedom, for power, for sisterhood, for love, for our bodies, for self-defense, for dignity, for human rights, for our children, for joy, for liberation, for ourselves, for control of our lives, for sex, for equality, for justice, for all women, forever.” As we write this in 2022 all those demands are still completely current.

Image: Red background with a silhouette of a right hand with the words “No Retreat!” printed over the palm.

Words: “No Retreat!”, dyke march ’96, background words top half of poster “No Retreat! “We’ll won’t go back in the closet! We won’t overturn affirmative actions! We won’t roll over for the right-wing! We won’t give up our children. We won’t attack immigrants! No Retreat! Why do we March, we do it for freedom, for power, for sisterhood, for love, for our bodies, for our rights, for self-defense, for dignity, for joy, for ourselves, for control of our lives, for sex, for equality, for justice for all women, forever, No Retreat!

Color: red and black ink on white paper

Event: Dyke March, June 23, 1996, Castro and Market Streets, San Francisco.

Sponsors: San Francisco Dyke March